Concrete form fill-in structure



Aug. 9, 1960 J. E. IMONETTI CONCRETE FORM FILL-IN STRUCTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 3, 1958 1960 J. E. IMONETTI 2,948,046

CONCRETE FORM FILL-IN STRUCTURE Filed Nov. 3, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mg wm United States Patent CONCRETE FORM FILL-IN STRUCTURE John E. Imonetti, Prospect Heights, 111., assignor to Symons Clamp & Mfg. Co., Chicago, 111., a Delaware corporation Filed Nov. 3, 1958, Ser. No. 771,554

2 Claims. (Cl. 2 5131) The present invention relates to concrete wall forms of the panel type wherein the opposed wall forms are each constructed of a group of rectangular panels assembled in edge-to-edge relationship, with the wet concrete being poured into the space existing between the walls, and with the two walls being connected by combined tie and spreader devices to prevent the walls from bulging under the thrust of the wet concrete. The panels commonly employed in this type of concrete wall form consist of facings of plywood against which the wet concrete lies, and stiifening and strengthening frames which are applied to the outer sides of the facings. Such strengthening frames include marginal horizontal and vertical members and intermediate crossbars which may extend either vertically or horizontally and which are connected at their ends to either the horizontal or the vertical marginal frame members.

. The present invention has particular reference to concrete wall forms of this sort but which are known as prefabricated wall forms in that the individual panels are assembled at the factory rather than in the field, and in that the plywood panel-reinforcing members, including the vertical and horizontal marginal members, and any intermediate cross members which may be employed, are

in the form of lengths of steel channel or angle stock which may be rolled to special shape and perforated, notched, grooved or otherwise fashioned to properly receive therein the plywood panel edges, as well as to facilitate the use of suitable fastening devices or other concrete form hardware whereby the adjacent panel units may be fastened together.

In the erection of certain concrete structures, situations arise wherein accommodations must be made for a projecting object which extends outwardly from the, surface. of the concrete structure. For example, a water pipe or other conduit may extend laterally from the surface of a concrete wall undergoing formation, thus interfering with the normal installation of one or more of the regular prefabricated panels employed for the installation. The cost of producing a modified panel unit to accommodate such a projection is relatively high in that it involves the use of skilled labor in cutting and fitting one or more plywood facings associated with such panel units to the projection. units when so modified are rendered unfit for subsequent reuse. According to the present invention, when a situation such as that briefly outlined above arises, the use of a small temporary form is contemplated, the form being useful for that area of the concrete form in-. stallation which otherwise would require the use of one or more regular but modified panel units. The invention thus provides a relatively simple and inexpensive wall form extension whereby the original wall form, consisting entirely of full width prefabricated panel units, may be extended either horizontally or vertically to the desired degree without necessitating the use of full size prefabricated panel units and utilizing a minimum of concrete form hardware, all of which is of standard Furthermore, the unit or 2 design and construction. A similar situation arises where there is to be an earth fill-in at the base of a given con-. crete installation. The present invention affords a convenient and expendible means in the lower regions of the form installation.

The provision of a concrete wall form extension as briefly outlined above being among the principal objects of the invention, it is a further object to provide a novel form of extension bracket, capable of ready attachment to the opposed vertical marginal frame members of adjacent panel units, such bracket having means associated therewith whereby a wooden plank or board of the necessary length may conveniently be attached to the bracket in accurate edgeto-edge relationship with the adjacent panel units and with the inside face of the board lying, accurately in the plane of the inside faces of the panel units, thus filling in the distance between such adjacent panel facings.

It is another object of the invention, in a concrete wall installation of this character, to provide an extension bracket of this sort and having additional means associated therewith whereby opposed brackets on opposite sides of the form structure may be tied together by conventional tie rod structures.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a concrete wall form extension which may be applied to the various panel units, utilizing only conventional wall form hardware so that, outside the fabrication of the bracket itself, no special manufacturing operations are required.

Other objects and advantages of the invention, not at this time enumerated, will become more readily apparent as the following description ensues.

In the accompanying two sheets of drawings forming a part of this specification, two embodiments of the invention have been shown.

In these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view, partly in section, of one side of a concrete wall form, showing a plurality of extension brackets constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention 0137.

eratively applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on the horizontal plane indicated by the'line 2--2 of Fig. 1 in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on the horizontal plane indicated by the line 3--3 of Fig. l in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of'one of the extension brackets employed in connection with the structure of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a portion of the structure shown in Fig. l; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Figs. 2 and 3, showing a slightly modified form of extension bracket.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and in particular to Fig. l, a fragmentary portion of one side of a composite wall form of the prefabricated metal-reinforced panel type has been illustrated herein and designated in its entirety at 10. The wall form 10 is made up of a series of rectangular panel assemblies, only three of which have been fragmentarily shown herein at 12., 14 and '16, with the panels 14 and 16 being arranged in edge-to-edge relationship and with the panels 12 and 14v being laterally spaced from each other, the space existing between these latter two panel units being filled in,

so to speak, or bridged by the form extension assembly of the present invention.

Each panel unit is in the form of a generally rectangular plywood facing 18 having a steel marginal reinforcing], frame applied to the outer face of thepanel unitlandj consisting of vertical and horizontal marginal ffame' Patented Aug. 9, 1960.

bars 20 and 22, respectively, only the upper frame bar of each panel unit being shown herein. The bars 20 extend in contiguity at the juncture between the panel units 14 and 16, while the adjacent or oppose bars 20 associated with the panel units 12 and 14 remain spaced from each other. It will be understood that the wall form side is. arranged in spaced opposition to a similar wall side and is maintained in spaced relationship from such Wall side by means of conventional tie rod and spreader devices, fragments of which have been illustrated herein and designated in their entirety at 24. Intermediate horizontal frame members 26 extend across each panel unit and such members have their ends secured by welding to the opposed. faces of the two vertical marginal frame bars 20.

The vertical frame bars: are of shallow channel shape in cross section and each bar includes inside and outside marginal ribs or flanges and 32, respectively, and a connecting web portion. 34. A lateral flange spaced inwardly a slight distance from the inside edge of each frame'bar affords a right angle recess 36 in which the adjacent vertical edge of the plywood facing or panel proper seats with its inside face extending flush with the inside edge of theframe bars 29 and 22.

In erecting the concrete wall form 10, the two panel units 14 and 16 are brought into contiguity with adjacent vertical frame bars 2% abutting each other so that the respective ribs 30 and 32 are in edge-to-edge abutting relationship while the web portions 34 remain slightly separated. At vertically spaced regions along the marginal ribs 30 and 32, pairs of transversely registering notches 42 are provided and these notches, when the frame bars are in contiguity, define therebetween horizontal channel voids adapted to receive therethrough the tie rods proper of the tie rod and spreader assemblies 24. A rectangular hole 46 is formed in theweb portion 34 at the horizontal level of each pair of' notches 42 and is adapted to receive therethrough the usual T-bolt and wedge assembly devices 43 whereby the frame bars 20 may be drawn tightly together. The horizontal frame bars 22 are substantially identical in their construction to the vertical frame bars 20 and, to avoid needless repetition of description, similar reference characters have been applied to the corresponding parts of both frame bars. 7 I

The arrangement of parts thus far described is purely conventional in its design and construction and no claim is made herein to any novelty associated with the same. Concrete walls of this type may vary widely in their details of construction and it will be understood that the wall form illustrated herein is purely exemplary of one embodiment of a concrete wall form to which the form extension of the present invention is applicable. Only such portions of the wall form 10* as are operatively associated with, or bear a relation to, the present wall form extension have been illustrated herein.

Panel units of the type set forth above are generally made in standard sizes and occasionally a situation will arise where a pipe or other type of projection must be accommodated by the wall form at the point where the object protrudes from the wall or other structure. To cut through the plywood panel of a full size panel unit would entail both the cost of labor involved and the cost of the lumber which would thus be rendered unfit for subsequent reuse. The present invention precludes the necessity of modifying and using standard panel units in this manner and accordingly itcontemplates the provision of a'plurality of form extension brackets which have been designated in their entirety at 50, three such brackets appearing in Fig. 1. Eachextension bracket is" in the form of a length of L-shaped angle bar or ironhaving a relatively wide flange 52 and a relatively narrow? flange 54. When the bracket 50 extends horizent'allyas shown inFig. 4, which is its position of use, trie'nange '52 lies in a'horiz'onta'l plane while the} flange 4 54 lies in a vertical plane. In its position of use, the flange 54 may extend either vertically upwardly above the flange 52 as shown in Fig. 4, or it may extend vertically downwardly below the flange 52 as shown at the upper region of Fig. 1. In either position of the extension bracket, the function of the same remains unaltered, as will appear presently.

Each end of the extension bracket is provided with a flat attachment finger or tongue 56, the tongues being formed as integral extensions which project medially from the end edges 57 of the flange 52 and lie in the plane of the flange. The tongues are formed with parallel side edges 58. and distal regions which are tapered as at 66. An elongated slot is formed centrally in each tongue for attachment purposes, as will be described presently. An elongated transversely extending slot 62 is formed centrally in the flange 52 and is designed for tie rod attachment purposes, as likewise will be described subsequently. The outside end. corners of the flange 52 are notched as at 66 for clearance purposes when the extension bracket is applied to the panel units 12 and 14 as also will be set forth subsequently. The flange 54 is formed with a plurality of spaced nail holesf68 by means of which the flange may be nailed to one orv more extension facing boards such as the boards 70. shown in Fig. l. The boards 70 may be formed with the necessary clearance regions such as the opening" 71 to accommodate any protruding objects such as a pipe or the like which may project outwardly fromthe finished concrete structure.

The extension brackets 50 are employed for the pm: pose of maintaining one or more of the boards 70 in position between the adjacent panel units 12 and 14 with the inside surfaces of the boards flush with the plywood panel facings 18 and, accordingly, the brackets 50 are installed between the opposed adjacent vertical frame bars 20. The brackets are installed by inserting the tongues 56 through selected holes 46 as shown in Fig. 1 and driving conventional wedges 72 vertically through the slots in the tongues on the inside surfaces of the frame bars 20 remote from the brackets to draw the. end edges of both flanges 52 and 54 of the brackets 50 hard 2. ainst the vertical outside faces of the web portions 34 of the frame bars. With the brackets thus secured to the opposed frame bars, the notches 66 at the outside corners of the flanges 52 will register with the outside ribs 32 so that these notches afford clearance spaces for the ribs and permit the bracket ends to seat squarely against the vertical outside surfaces of thevertical frame bars 20.

With the brackets 50 anchored between the opposed vertical frame bars 20, the extension boards 70 are brought squarely against the inside faces of the flanges 54 and the flanges are nailed to the board, utilizing dualhead nails 74 which are passed through the nail. holes 68, as" best seen in Figs. 2 and 3. It is to be noted that the distance between the flange 54 of each bracket 50 and the. inside edges of its respective frame bar 22 is precisely equal to the thickness of an extension board so that these boards will, when nailed to the flanges 54, he flush with the various panel facings 18 and present uniform, unbroken extensions of the facings.

The various slots 64 in the flanges 52 may be employed for tie rod attachment purposes and it will be observed that whether the brackets 50 are placed so that the flanges 54 project upwardly from the horizontal flanges 52 or whether they be placed so that the flanges 54 project downwardly, the disposition ofthe' medial slots 64 in the flanges 52 is not disturbed so that conventional tie rod devices 24 may be attached across the forminstallation. In Fig. 6, a slightly modified form of extension bracket has been illustrated and shown in a concrete wall form environment substantially identical with the environ; ment for the bracket 50 illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3. To

avoid needless repetition of description, similar reference characters but of a higher order have been applied to such parts as correspond to similar parts in Fig. 4.

Whereas in Fig. 1, the outside ribs 3-2 of the opposed vertical frame bars 20 are continuous at the regions of juncture with the brackets 50 thus necessitating the provision of the notches 66 at the outside end corners of the Various extension brackets 50, in Fig. 6 the flange 132 is relieved as at 190 so that the notches may be omitted and the lower edges of the flanges 15 2 may be linear throughout so as to pass through these notches. Otherwise, the extension brackets 150 are identical with the extension brackets 50 and their mode of application to the concrete wall form is identical.

The invention is not to be limited to the exact arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification as various changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. Only insofar as the invention has particularly been pointed out in the accompanying claims is the same to be limited.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a concrete Wall form structure, in combination, a pair of aligned prefabricated panel units spaced longitudinally from each other and presenting opposed marginal vertical metal frame bars and a plywood panel facing, there being an elongated slot in each of said opposed marginal frame bars at substantially the same height in the form wall, an extension bracket extending between said opposed frame bars, said extension bracket comprising an elongated horizontally disposed metal angle bar including a horizontal flange and a vertical flange, each presenting parallel end edges, a flat attachment tongue formed on each end edge of the horizontal flange and lying in the plane of the same, the attachment tongues being of substantially the same thickness as the width of the slots and projecting horizontally through said slots respectively, each tongue being provided with an elongated longitudinally extending slot therein on the side of the adjacent vertical frame bar remote from the angle bar, a wedge member disposed in each longitudinally extending slot for clamping the adjacent end of the bracket hard against the adjacent frame bar, there being a series of nail holes in said vertical flange, a form extension board bridging the distance between said opposed frame bars and having an inside face flush with the inside faces of said panel unit facings, and a series of attachment nails extending through said nail holes and secured in said board.

2. In a concrete wall form structure, in combination, a pair of aligned prefabricated panel units spaced longitudinally from each other and presenting opposed marginal vertical metal frame bars and a plywood facing, each of said opposed marginal frame bars being generally channel-shape in cross section and presenting a pair of inner and outer marginal ribs respectively and a connecting flat web, there being an elongated slot in said web intermediate said ribs with the two slots being disposed in substantially the same horizontal plane, an elongated extension bracket extending between said opposed marginal frame bars and having its ends anchored in said slots respectively, said extension bracket comprising an elongated horizontally disposed metal angle bar including a horizontal flange and a vertical flange, each presenting parallel end edges, a flat attachment tongue formed on each end edge of the horizontal flange and lying in the plane of said horizontal flange, the attachment tongue being of substantially the same thickness as the width of the slots and projecting horizontally through said slots respectively, each tongue being provided with an elongated longitudinally extending slot therein on the side of the adjacent vertical frame bar remote from the angle bar, a wedge member disposed in said longitudinally extending slot for clamping the adjacent end of the bracket hard against the adjacent frame bar, one corner of said horizontal flange at each end edge thereof being recessed to clear said outer marginal rib for the adjacent frame bar, there being a series of nail holes in the vertical flange of the extension bracket, a form extension board bridging the distance between said opposed frame bars and having an inside face flush with the inside faces of said panel unit facings, and a series of attachment main nails extending through said nail holes and secured in said board.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,906,291 Wales May 2, 1933 1,949,083 Roberg Feb. 27, 1934 2,107,427 Schwarzler Feb. 8, 1938 2,702,422 Symons Feb. 22, 1955 

